Venkat Ramaswamy

I've giving this three stars not necessarily because there's anything wrong with the book, but because it really didn't turn out to be right for me. Maybe that's unfair. At any rate, some thoughts:

I kind of came to this book expecting it to be a little bit meatier as far as exploring the underpinnings of how co-creation works. Something a bit more Clay Shirky-ish. Instead, this book is more about giving business management examples. In fact, that's nearly all it is -- examples of various businesses using co-creation to various successful ends. And this is fine. Except I reached a point where I found myself thinking "yes, yes, yes -- co-creation works" and not being particularly interested in the finer details business being discussed. I'm sure the French postal system is fascinating. I found it hard to keep focused on reading about it for a chapter.

Some of the examples are great, though. Nike . The iPhone. Some, though, just seem like traditional focus-grouping, and I'm not sure the book draws a large enough distinction between focus groups and co-creative tools in a few cases.

Anyway: This is a good book of examples of co-creation. If the subject interests you, it's probably a good jumping off point into more research.… (meer)